For the occasion of the largest ever exhibition dedicated to Claude Monet at the Grand Palais in Paris, this site relays the event on the Web and creates a genuine opportunity for visitors to dive into the heart of the Impressionist master’s incredible work.

The goal was to create genuinely rich and unprecedented material on the Web, enabling Web users to view all of the paintings in the exhibition but to also entertain and give the presentation a dream-like, poetic and interactive dimension. The challenge was to make the precision of Monet’s brushstrokes, his impressions and sense of light felt, without distorting his work.

Guaranteeing the documentary aspect, a digital gallery gives visitors a place to explore the painter’s work (chronologically or by keyword). But more than a simple, classic, online gallery, it enables the discovery of a multitude of anecdotes and moments in Monet’s life. Visitors can begin to understand the development of his painting across the decades and to zoom in, as close as possible, to his brushstrokes and uncover the subtleties of his art.

It’s the interactive experience that places visitors at the heart of Claude Monet’s world and makes them conscious of the depth given to the countryside views painted by the master.
Accompanied by a contemporary sound design the journey moves from one painting to the next and the exploration of various elements of paintings. Using a mouse and keyboard—and also microphone and Webcam—visitors can participate in the transformations that Monet sought to capture throughout his career and bring to life the elements of his work, including changes in season and subtle light variations.

• Five months were required for production (design, art direction, motion design and Flash development).

• The site containes 157 high-definition digital paintings; 27 paintings put into perspective and reworked in 3-D (notably La Pie and Les Coquelicots); and 6 minutes of animation in the world of Claude Monet.

• A News & Web TV section enables the broadcast of live information by supplying the site with articles, social media feeds and videos.

• There were 750,000 unique visitors during the first month of the launch, with no online promotion; 2,000,000 page views in 10 days; and the average time spent on the site is 5 minutes 30 seconds.

• Following the success of the online version, the experience was installed at the heart of the Monet 2010 exhibition at the Grand Palais.Credits: www.les84.com | www.fabernovel.com